The Internet provides vendors of consumer products and other types of products with a means to offer such products to consumers virtually anywhere in the world. In the United States, it is quite common for a consumer on the East Coast to access the Internet site of a merchant or vendor on the West Coast, browse the vendor's catalog of products, and place and order using a credit card from a terminal located in the home or in a business. If a transaction occurs in this manner, the West Coast vendor must ship the product or products across the county to fulfill the consumer's order.
The cost of shipping and handling for a particular good is typically included in the total purchase price that the consumer pays when purchasing goods by means of the Internet. Thus, the consumer will pay a specific amount determined by the vendor, regardless of what it actually costs the vendor to ship the product. Additionally, shipping the goods from different geographic locations often results in varying expenses for the vendor. These varying expenses are typically determined by the actual distance the packages have to travel to the customer. The cost of the shipment is also typically determined by the shipping service selected (overnight, two days, three days, etc.) as well as by the shipping company utilized by the vendor (e.g., UPS, FedEx, USPS), Thus, if a vendor who receives an order for a particular product can find a second vendor that is geographically closer to the consumer who can deliver the identical product in the same amount of time for less money than it would cost the first vendor to ship the product, using the same shipping company or a different one, the first vendor1 may be able to realize a significant savings from utilizing the second vendor to actually fulfill the order. The savings can then be divided between the vendors, or the vendors may realize other somewhat indirect benefits from participating in the type of transaction described.
Conceivably, identifying and coordinating transactions between multiple vendors would provide certain benefits to the vendors. Vendor-specific databases, and software that would permit the exchange of relevant product-related information between vendors, do not currently exist. Thus, for multiple vendors to participate in mutually beneficial collaborations, there is a need for an automated system and method by which vendors that are geographically distanced from another can be brought together to coordinate and optimize transactions involving the purchase of consumer goods or other goods.